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Wounded lost animal, does it count as your bag limit?

If hunting and you wound an animal, lets say a Moose. You spend the next couple of days looking for it as you drew blood, but are not completely sure if it will live or die. Can you continue to keep hunting for a different Moose or are you done as your bag limit is one?

My guess is F&G won't see it as a personal ethics matter. I believe if you know you wounded an animal but didn't recover it it counts as a taken animal. You might research Ted Nugent's bear debacle. He got fined for not claiming a wounded black bear. A call to F&G will answer this question.

My guess is F&G won't see it as a personal ethics matter. I believe if you know you wounded an animal but didn't recover it it counts as a taken animal. You might research Ted Nugent's bear debacle. He got fined for not claiming a wounded black bear. A call to F&G will answer this question.

Not sure but wasn't Ted hunting federal land

Is it opening day of duck season yet
Member of Alaska Waterfowl Association

Ted was hunting in a southeast GMU that had recently changed the rules about wounded black bears based on testimony to the board of game. Ted does not read regulations and he filmed the wounding of the black bear and was busted a year after the fact when someone notified the troopers after watching his show.

Other than that specific GMU in southeast I have never seen an AK regulation about wounding big game, losing it, and then counting it as harvested.

If hunting and you wound an animal, lets say a Moose. You spend the next couple of days looking for it as you drew blood, but are not completely sure if it will live or die. Can you continue to keep hunting for a different Moose or are you done as your bag limit is one?

Personally, I'm done.

...he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. ~Thomas Jefferson
I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. ~Gerry Spence
The last thing Alaska needs is another bigot. ~member Catch It#Resist

I agree it is a personal ethics decision. My own personal opinion is that you should tag the wounded animal and count it towards your bag limit. The main reason why I say that is because if you have that mindset going into a situation where you had to choose whether or not to take a bad shot, perhaps knowing beforehand may cause the shooter to make a wiser decision. I was faced with this decision opening day of bow season this year. I was within about 20 yards of spike bull and I passed up the shot because the terrain was to thick with vegetation that I wasn't 100% that I could make the shot without deflecting an arrow. If I had made the decision beforehand to keep hunting even if I wounded a moose, then I possibly would have made a bad call and taken the shot. I think it forces the hunter to be a more responsible hunter. The other way of looking at it is, if you wound an animal you are probably more likely to search as hard as you can for the wounded animal if you are planning on tagging out. Just my two cents. I know others may disagree with me, but I think that is the way it should be.

My copy of the reg book provides as follows so to the original question I do not believe wounding a moose would count toward your bag limit:A person who has wounded game should make every reasonable effort to retrieve and salvage that game. Animals disturbed while hunting do not count against your bag limit; however, bears wounded in Units 1-5, and 8, and elk wounded in Unit 8 do count toward your bag limit for the regulatory year.

It's really not a question for F&G - it's a question for the troopers. The head of F&G could write you an affidavit saying it was ok and if the trooper doing the investigation decided it wasn't, guess what will happen. You will get a ticket.

While your making every effort to kill them, they are making every effort to live.

You will know if you have done your best and when its futile. If theres nothing after two days of looking, Id fair to say you need to keep hunting, and carry on , guilt free.

I have hunted ALOT of Caribou, and every once inna while I find bullets or teeth scars while skinning and am amazed at what things can live through.....and I know they never used a band aid or anti bacterial....

My copy of the reg book provides as follows so to the original question I do not believe wounding a moose would count toward your bag limit:A person who has wounded game should make every reasonable effort to retrieve and salvage that game. Animals disturbed while hunting do not count against your bag limit; however, bears wounded in Units 1-5, and 8, and elk wounded in Unit 8 do count toward your bag limit for the regulatory year.

+1.. The regs provide the answer.

People may have different feelings on the matter from a personal ethics standpoint, but wounded moose do not count on your bag, only bears in GMU 1-5 (like Ted!) and elk in GMU 8.

If you wound and lose game, you should be prepared to defend your "reasonable effort" though and there's not really any way to define it. In your hypothetical scenario... two days will likely pass muster in that regard.

"I do not deal in hypotheticals. The world, as it is, is vexing enough..." Col. Stonehill, True Grit

Everyone has the right to end their hunt for whatever reason BEFORE they have a carcass to salvage. However, if you notch your tag, you are required by law to salvage that animal. If you do not have a carcass in front of you, I would suggest you NOT notch your tag. No law requires you to KEEP hunting after you THINK you have mortally wounded an animal.
If you get stopped or visited in camp and you have notched tag, you would be wise to have the legally required salvaged meat with you.

I can't help being a lazy, dumb, weekend warrior.......I have a JOB!
I have less friends now!!

If hunting and you wound an animal, lets say a Moose. You spend the next couple of days looking for it as you drew blood, but are not completely sure if it will live or die. Can you continue to keep hunting for a different Moose or are you done as your bag limit is one?

Personally, I'm done.

Everyone has the right to end their hunt for whatever reason BEFORE they have a carcass to salvage. However, if you notch your tag, you are required by law to salvage that animal. If you do not have a carcass in front of you, I would suggest you NOT notch your tag. No law requires you to KEEP hunting after you THINK you have mortally wounded an animal.
If you get stopped or visited in camp and you have notched tag, you would be wise to have the legally required salvaged meat with you.

Interesting point about legalities of notching the tag. Regardless, given the scenario presented, I would be done hunting. My choice. If I believed I had likely killed/mortally wounded the animal, whether I was able to recover it or not, I would have notched the tag.

I once wounded a caribou and spent two days attempting to recover it in extremely difficult terrain. Ultimately I did recover the animal, but I very well might not have. Had I not, I would have called it done. I could have easily just left the first one to the wolves, taken a second animal and gone home on day one. It would have been cheaper, easier, and much safer... but not my style. I think if I kill an animal it should be accounted for, recovered or not. The biologists want to know how many animals were killed, not how many out of those killed made it home to the freezer.

...he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. ~Thomas Jefferson
I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. ~Gerry Spence
The last thing Alaska needs is another bigot. ~member Catch It#Resist

I have hunted with bear outfitters in different provinces of Canada and some say your hunt is over if you wound one, some charge another reduced fee if one is lost for the hunter to go again and some don't care. I was in a camp where a very well known sportswriter shot and lost 2 bears before killing the third with archery equipment - I had read his article before I hunted with this outfitter and he never mentioned loosing any.
I have never lost any big game I have shot with a gun - mainly because of the shot restrictions I limit myself too. I have lost a couple deer to archery equipment and did kill one a year later with the broadhead still intact. I think gut shot animals may suffer the highest mortality rate that are lost, that and ones hit in the jaws...

When asked what state I live in I say "The State of Confusion", better known as IL....

Twice I have struck a moose with an arrow that I was not able to recover right away.......BUT, on the 1st one I nailed him 10 days later with my rifle, He was completely healed up except for a hole in the hide. The 2nd one was nearly the same. Not as many days, and not completely healed. One of those moose I tracked for over 1/2 mile and the blood trail just petered out. Wasn't much to begin with. The other, I only found 2 drops of blood. Looked for both moose every day.

To the ethics issue that is discussed in this thread, for me personally the extent of the search in an attempt to recover the animal is what is most important and is what would determine whether I felt I had acted ethically or not. If I lost an animal that had been wounded, simply punching my harvest ticket would not make me feel any better about what I had done. To me someone who spends little effort and time searching for a wounded animal and punches their harvest ticket and goes home is far less ethical than one who makes every effort and spends a lot of time searching for a wounded animal and then continues hunting after they are unable to recover the animal.